Meet Johnny Marzetti, the Midwestern Pasta Casserole You Want for Dinner

The Columbus, Ohio favorite is a total crowd-pleaser.

By
Sara Bir
Sara Bir
Sara Bir
Sara is a chef, culinary educator, and author of three cookbooks, The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, Tasting Ohio and The Fruit Forager's Companion. The latter won a 2019 IACP Cookbook Award.
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Published September 22, 2023
Sara Bir
Johnny Marzetti casserole in a casserole dish (corner piece already served) at a table setting with a drink and two plates with a serving of casserole and mixed greens salad, each

Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

Johnny Marzetti casserole hails from the center of a heart-shaped state on the eastern boundary of the region we call the heartland. I can’t think of anything more Midwestern.

My best friend’s family made this often when I was growing up, and they, as many Ohioans do, referred to it colloquially as “Marzetti”. Hearty with ground beef and cheesy, tomato-sauced macaroni, it feeds a crowd, and it was their go-to for countless potlucks and church suppers. 

As an adult I’ve been drawn to the recipe’s history, which turns out to be fascinatingly muddled. Why is this dish, essentially a shortcut, un-fancified lasagna, named after some guy? And why has this humble casserole’s appeal endured for over a century? 

Johnny Marzetti Did Not Invent Johnny Marzetti

The standard story of Johnny Marzetti casserole’s beginnings has yet to be backed up by archival evidence. And while I just can’t get enough of revisiting the topic, my own dives into online databases haven’t shed any new light on the issue.

Regardless, people eat the story up as willingly as they do the casserole itself. Here’s the gist: The Columbus, Ohio restaurant Marzetti’s was a downtown fixture for decades. Proprietress Teresa Marzetti concocted the cheap and filling pasta bake for cash-strapped students of the nearby Ohio State University and named the dish after her brother-in-law.

To date, no vintage Marzetti’s menu listing the casserole has surfaced, and the Marzetti family has never corroborated the story. If the name Marzetti rings a bell for reasons unrelated to casseroles, it’s likely because the family launched a company that makes bottled dressing in 1950; it’s still around today. However, the last Marzetti’s restaurant closed in the 70s, leaving many years for a nostalgia-laden origin myth to evolve.

Spoonful of Johnny Marzetti Casserole lifted from the casserole dish, and in the surroundings, a stack of plates and a bowl of mixed greens salad

Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

A Casserole With Many Cousins

Regardless of possible associations with Marzetti’s restaurant, it’s in home kitchens and institutional dining halls where Johnny Marzetti has carved a permanent niche. Printed recipes began appearing as early as 1916, and dozens of versions link Midwestern community cookbooks like a game of connect the dots.

Close beef-and-pasta cousins of Johnny Marzetti include goulash, American chop suey, slumgullion, and Simply Recipes’ very own hamburger and macaroni. These are all primarily freeform skillet dishes; Johnny Marzetti stands out in that it’s marbled and crowned with cheese (often mild orange cheddar) and baked. This makes it less suited to throwing together on the fly, but very well suited to assembling in advance en masse. Cue the family reunion!

Johnny Marzetti Variations and Swaps

My Marzetti might not be your Marzetti, but that’s okay. It takes well to personalization as well as passionate opinions. Here are mine!

  • Pasta: I contend that macaroni is the pasta for Johnny Marzetti. Egg noodles are also traditional, but macaroni creates a superior framework to hold the sauce and beef together. I suppose you could use penne, but doing so would push it from Marzetti to being Marzetti-inspired.
  • Cheese: If this casserole originated in an Italian restaurant, why does it have cheddar and not mozzarella? Search me, but do give the cheddar a spin. Trust me, it works. Use orange or white, sharp or mild. Really any shredded semi-firm cheese (or a blend of a few) would be fine. I like to add a little grated parm to mine for some oomph.
  • Meat: It’s nice to have a recipe option when you have ground beef on hand and that’s it. Some recipes call for Italian sausage. I’ve never had it this way, and to me it would be flirting too closely with baked ziti. I say if you want baked ziti, make baked ziti. 
  • Vegetables: The vegetable-averse may skip the bell pepper and/or mushrooms. I like the flavor that the mushrooms add in particular, but as a ten-year-old, I would not have agreed. 
  • Herbs and spices: Midwestern casseroles have a rep for being bland, but your Marzetti does not need to be. The beefy tomato sauce, however, should not be an Italian seasoning bomb. Use a light hand with the herbs and look to ground spices like chili powder or cayenne if you’d like to impart a little boldness. 

How do you make your Marzetti? Tell us all about it in the comments!

Serving of Johnny Marzetti casserole and mixed greens on a plate at a table setting with more casserole in a casserole dish, another plate with another serving and a drink

Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm

More Beefy, Cheesy Casseroles

Johnny Marzetti Casserole

Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 75 mins
Total Time 90 mins
Servings 8 servings
Yield 1 (9x13-inch) casserole

This is my third tweaking of the version that appeared in my book Tasting Ohio: Favorite Recipes from the Buckeye State (Farcountry Press, 2018). It’s reprinted here with the publisher’s permission.

If you’d like a saucier casserole, feel free to dump some extra jarred marinara sauce in there before you bake it.

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and chopped or sliced

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil or neutral cooking oil

  • 1 large onion, chopped

  • 5 cloves garlic, minced

  • 1 bell pepper (any color), seeded and cored, finely chopped

  • Salt, to taste

  • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (90:10 is good)

  • 1 (28-ounce) can whole plum tomatoes in juice

  • 3 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano

  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

  • Freshly ground black pepper

  • 12 ounces (2 3/4 cups) uncooked elbow macaroni

  • 8 ounces grated cheddar cheese (2 generous cups), divided

  • 4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese (1 1/2 cups), divided

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

    Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish; set aside.

  2. Cook the vegetables and beef: 

    Heat a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms to the dry skillet. As they heat, the mushrooms will give off their moisture. Stir them occasionally until they are soft, slightly browned, and most of their liquid has evaporated, 5 to 8 minutes. Scrape the mushrooms in a bowl; set aside.

    Wipe out the skillet and return it to the burner. Add the oil; when it ripples, add the onion and cook until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and bell pepper and cook 1 minute longer. Season generously with salt.

    Add the beef, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, breaking the beef up with a spoon into small clumps. Stop when the meat is no longer pink, about 8 minutes.

    Sliced mushrooms stirred in a hot skillet over the stove for Johnny Marzetti casserole recipe

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
    Onions, bell pepper, and garlic cooking in the skillet on the stove for Johnny Marzetti casserole recipe

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
    Beef added to skillet on the stove and cooking with the vegetables for Johnny Marzetti casserole recipe

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
  3. Add the tomatoes and seasoning:

    Use your hands to crush the tomatoes directly into the pan (wear an apron) and add the remaining juices from the can.

    Simple Tip!

    My mom prefers to stick kitchen scissors right into the can and chop the tomatoes up that way. It’s less messy, but not as fun. 

    Add the tomato paste, oregano, pepper flakes, and black pepper and simmer until saucy, about 20 minutes. Add the reserved mushrooms; simmer 2 minutes longer. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with salt.

    Hand crushing whole canned tomatoes into the skillet with the ground beef mixture for Johnny Marzetti casserole recipe

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
    Cooked mushrooms added to the meat sauce in the skillet for Johnny Marzetti casserole recipe

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
  4. Meanwhile, boil the pasta:

    As the sauce cooks, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until it still retains a bit of bite. Drain.

    Cooked elbow pasta draining in a colander in the stove for Johnny Marzetti casserole recipe

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
  5. Assemble the casserole: 

    Return the pasta to the pot; add the cooked sauce and toss. Mix in half of the cheeses, then dump into the greased dish. Scatter the remaining grated cheese on top.

    Johnny Marzetti casserole ingredients mixed together with cheese in a pot

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
    Johnny Marzetti casserole ingredients added to a casserole dish

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
    Casserole dish with Johnny Marzetti casserole ingredients topped with grated cheddar and parmesan cheese

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
  6. Bake:

    Bake until the sauce bubbles and the cheese is lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes before serving. 

    You can refrigerate leftovers, tightly covered, for up to 4 days. The baked casserole freezes well. You can even freeze the entire casserole to reheat later.

    Baked Johnny Marzetti casserole in the casserole dish

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
    Serving of Johnny Marzetti casserole and mixed greens on a plate at a table setting with more casserole in a casserole dish, another plate with another serving and two glasses with a drink

    Simply Recipes / Mark Beahm
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
407 Calories
22g Fat
23g Carbs
29g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 8
Amount per serving
Calories 407
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g 28%
Saturated Fat 10g 51%
Cholesterol 86mg 29%
Sodium 564mg 25%
Total Carbohydrate 23g 8%
Dietary Fiber 3g 9%
Total Sugars 3g
Protein 29g
Vitamin C 25mg 127%
Calcium 351mg 27%
Iron 3mg 19%
Potassium 577mg 12%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.